Couple charged with animal cruelty

GARLAND, Maine — A man and woman have been summoned for animal cruelty after authorities seized 45 animals including cats, dogs, and birds from their Oliver Hill Road home.

The animals were taken last Friday from Mark McIntosh, 40, and Jennifer Stanley, 31, who are scheduled to appear in Newport District Court on Oct. 10. The animals are being boarded in shelters around the state until the court hearing.

“They were found in various conditions of health; some of them were good, some of them were bad, some of them needed treatment, some of them needed food, and some of them needed shelter,” Penobscot County Chief Deputy Tony Morton said Monday.

The Sheriff’s Department received multiple complaints from residents concerned about the well-being of the animals, Morton said.

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Among those concerned residents was Julie Gallagher of Milo, a member of Prevent Euthanasia through Sterilization, or PETS, who stopped last week to offer the couple free food for the animals.

Gallagher said when McIntosh opened the door to his mobile home, “this little dog flew out and I’m thinking overgrown Boston terrier-type dog, and all she was was a rib cage with mammary glands — she had had puppies. She had nothing for herself let alone to give to her puppies,” she said.

Gallagher said she and others with PETS had been helping another Garland resident on the same road deal with feral barn cats when she first noticed the condition of some of the animals that were outside on the McIntosh-Stanley property. She said she decided to stop and offer help. After seeing the condition of the animals, she said she called the state Animal Welfare Office and then sought immediate help from Joe Guyotte of Dover-Foxcroft, Garland’s animal control officer.

“Guyotte just got onto this like — he was just determined,” Gallagher said. He enlisted the aid of Detective Robert Jordan of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department.

Guyotte and Jordan and city officials went to the Oliver Hill Road home Thursday to check on the animals, and returned Friday with a search warrant. The animals seized included 11 cats, 16 dogs and eight house birds, including some exotic ones, he said. Other animals taken from the property included geese, ducks, guinea pigs and hamsters.

“We had to do something,” Guyotte said Monday. One dog that had puppies was in a terrible state, yet she wagged her tail, he said. “I’ve seen some things in my life, but I’ve never seen anything any more pitiful,” he said.

A message left for McIntosh and Stanley on Monday was not immediately returned.